President Obama recently voiced his seemingly heartfelt concern over climate change during a visit to the endangered Florida Everglades. Yet despite heavy criticism from many fellow Democrats, he's been spearheading the effort to ramrod the Hatch-Ryan-Wyden Act, promoting the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership (TPP) through Congress without any opportunity to either debate or amend it. (In more genteel circles, the term fast-tracking is preferred). Among other things, it would stifle many of the efforts to combat climate change. So why is he contradicting himself?
The TPP bill has been a work in progress for at least the past two years. It's been conceived in quiet rooms with ample input from corporate poo-bahs and their lobbyists. No advocates for the environment / human rights / labor rights / economic fairness, or dogs allowed!
Everything associated with this measure is designed to be a deep, dark secret unfit for compassionate eyes. However, it appears as if parts of this proposal have been exposed to daylight on WikiLeaks.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, one of the TPP's most persistent critics was recently interviewed by Rachel Maddow on MSNBC. The Good Senator said that members of Congress are able to read the bill, but are forbidden to copy or discuss any part of it. Assuming that the information in WikiLeaks is accurate, the effort to scuttle the TPP --- at least its most toxic provisions --- appears to be justified by well-founded concerns. Senator Warren knows what she's doing and has plenty of company, including fellow progressives such as Senators Sherrod Brown and Bernie Sanders as well as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
Possibly the most lethal provision in this act falls under the heading, Investor-State Arbitration: a.k.a. The Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). It apparently allows an investor, most commonly a massive multinational corporation, to sue a sovereign government for profits lost, by dint of the enforcement of laws designed to enforce fair labor standards, protect the environment, prevent price gouging, and maintain net neutrality, among other things.
In light of this revelation, and considering the devastating consequences of recent trade agreements, particularly NAFTA, it boggles my mind that any executive or legislator with a heart, especially Obama, would endorse the TPP as it stands. We all know what transpired in the wake of NAFTA; onetime presidential candidate Ross Perot referred to "a giant sucking sound" of jobs leaving the US. A few weeks ago, the President insisted that, in so many words, no more jobs would be outsourced as a result of the TPP because employers interested in shipping jobs elsewhere had already done so under NAFTA. Huh? That was 22 years ago!
An alternative to the fast-tracked TPP has been offered by Congressman Sander Levin, the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee. He calls it The Right Track for TPP Act of 2015. (The full text is available on Representative Levin's website: levin.house.gov/press-release/levin-offer-tpa-substitute-put-tpp-right-track ).
Among other things, it would allow Congress some input, in effect scuttling the fast-track option. Labor, environmental, and human rights activists would also be included in the negotiating process. Above all, the most toxic component of the TTP as presently constituted would be disabled: The ISDS (described in Paragraph 5). In addition to an expanded role for other --- presumably more humane --- stakeholders, corporations would be restricted from overriding widely-accepted international standards.
The majority of Democrats have indicated that they'll give the original TPP bill thumbs down. They could well be joined by many Republicans, especially those who have expressed concern about executive overreach as well as issues compromising US sovereignty.
Maybe the Levin alternative bill could gather traction, if it's ever brought to a vote. If so, will the President wake up and smell the coffee?
(An earlier TPP-related post can be eyeballed on this blog:
See TPP: Another Deal Under the Radar, dated 4/8/13).
